Why Did Pakistan Award 'Israel's Favorite US General' a Prestigious Medal?
Bestowing a medal on the very American general who has been so intimately involved in Israel’s holocaust of Gaza is beyond absurd.
As a Pakistani, I am used to politics as a theater of the absurd. But even a weary watcher such as myself was taken aback to see Pakistan bestowing a Nishan-e-Imtiaz, the national medal of excellence, on outgoing US CENTCOM chief General Michael Kurilla last month. The former chief, whose CENTCOM covered military operations in the Middle East, North Africa, and Central and South Asia, was lauded by the Pakistani government for his “visionary leadership” and “exemplary service.” They happened to leave out a few other details – “In case you don't know, he is Israel's favorite US general & the most pro-Israel general in the American military,” Pakistan’s former ambassador to the United States, Maleeha Lodhi, tweeted. Kurilla played what Israeli news site Ynet called a “central role” in bolstering American military coordination during Israel’s war on Gaza, and appears to have been instrumental in pushing for the US to take part in Israel’s aggression against Iran.
Bestowing a medal on the very American general who has been so intimately involved in Israel’s holocaust of Gaza is beyond macabre. Gaza is now the most bombed site in recent history. Israel has destroyed nearly all the trees and 92% of all homes in the Strip. The scale of Israel’s destruction of Gaza is higher than that in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Dresden, London during the Blitz, Syria, and Iraq.
Though relations between the two countries had soured in the post-“War on Terror” years – former President Joe Biden not only pointedly didn’t even talk to former Prime Minister Imran Khan over the phone, but Khan publicly accused the US of threatening him and orchestrating his removal from power – they have enjoyed an upswing in recent months.